Sunrises and Sunsets
by pacifica somnia
Summary: Yesterday you didn't know her; today you're friends. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
1. Meetings and greetings

**So here comes the boring stuff before the story which people, including me, barely ever read. But you might want to. You see, I was thinking, if vampires and shape-shifters were real in Twilight, then what else was. So I'm going to kind of make up my own stuff. So if you're not into that sort of thing you might not want to read this. And that's absolutely fine. But to anyone who does read this, I hope you enjoy it. **

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><p>It was another wet, grey morning. The young man groaned as he stretched his arms to the sky. He'd been running for too long. He looked up. The clouds loomed heavy and ominous; it would rain soon. He trudged across the mud to a small house in the middle of the clearing. It was early morning; the sun had only just risen behind the clouds. The day had a sleepy feel to it, as did all days in La Push. Nothing exciting ever happened in the tiny village. Apart from the obvious; turning into a giant wolf had spiced things up for a while. The young man pulled open the door – doors were never locked in La Push. There was no point. No one just passed through the village. Everyone knew everyone. What was the point in locking your doors when you knew nothing was going to happen?<p>

He walked into the little house. It was warm, uncomfortably so for the young man. Walking into the living room he noticed an even younger man, a boy really, lying face first on the sofa. His snores were loud enough to wake the other inhabitants of the little house. As the young man walked into the kitchen he saw another man sitting at the table, his gaze fixed on the woman standing by the oven. The young man scowled, pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. The woman looked over, a smile stretching the scars on her face.

"Hungry?" She smiled wider. "Stupid question – you're always hungry." She chuckled as she walked to the fridge. The larger man at the table smiled softly as she laughed. The young man grimaced.

"Wipe that frown off your face Paul; you can't be angry all the time." The woman walked over with a plate of food and cutlery, setting it down in front of the young man, Paul. He mumbled his thanks and dug in.

The scent of food had obviously woken the sleeping boy as he stumbled through with a huge yawn, looking more asleep than awake.

"Any more of that, Em?" He stumbled to a chair, slumped in it and looked up at the woman mournfully. "I'm so hungry people in the next state must be able to hear my stomach." The woman chuckled, turning to make him breakfast.

"Seth, stop exaggerating. And don't take food from Paul. I won't have another one of you phasing in my house." The woman, Em, spun round at Paul's growl. The older man stood up.

"Seth, enough. Paul, calm down before I throw you out. Get control over yourself." He glared at the two younger men, Paul and Seth. Seth lowered his head. Paul glared at his plate. A slightly awkward silence ensued.

"I'm baking today. Any requests?" The woman, Em, tried to make conversation.

"You're baking? Why? Make anything Emily, it's all great. But muffins, blueberry muffins. They're delicious." The young boy, Seth, grinned dreamily as he thought about blueberry muffins. Paul snorted.

"Sure Seth, blueberry muffins for you." Emily bent down to retrieve a mixing bowl from a cupboard. "But what should I make for the new neighbours?"

"New folk, round here?" Seth looked confused. "Why haven't I heard about this?"

"I only found out yesterday from Billy. Apparently he knows the guy. Ex-army or something, I think. He has a niece coming down with him. They're British. They wanted to keep everything quiet about the move." Emily looked thoughtful. "I think I'll make chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate, right?"

New people. Paul perked his ears up – this _was_ interesting.

"Why would they move down here?" Seth took the words right out of Paul's mind.

"I don't know, Billy didn't say. Sam, any ideas?" Emily looked over her shoulder quizzically at the older man.

"Nope." The older man, Sam, got up and moved towards Emily. "I've got to go, Jared's seeing Kim today and I promised I'd take part of his shift so he could get ready. I'll see you later; don't take those over without me." He kissed her softly, gently, once on her mouth, then on each of her three scars. She smiled.

"Why, do think they'll bite?" She asked.

"Then take one of the boys." He answered. Then he left, but not before shooting Paul a meaningful look. A look that said, _go with her_. Paul heaved a sigh as the door shut and Emily started mixing, Seth falling asleep with his head lolling on the table. Just what he wanted. Another day of imprint watching.

xXx

The car slowed down as it turned off the main road onto a smaller, narrower one. It was slightly bumpy, slightly overgrown, and the sleek, grey vehicle looked out of place. The driver was a man in his late 30s, with short brown hair and blue eyes. Intelligent eyes. He drove carefully, avoiding the bumps and potholes along the way. His companion, a young girl with auburn hair, was looking out of the window.

"Looks like I'll have to get a new car. This sticks out like a sore thumb." The man said, regretfully. "Pity, I liked this one."

"Get a truck. That's what everyone else seems to have round here; keep this in the garage."

"Trucks don't drive as nice."

"Some do. Plus, we don't want to stick out more than we already do." It was true; they'd already had some strange looks from people when they stopped for directions at the store. Whispers had followed them out of the shop.

The man nodded thoughtfully. The car was silent for a couple of minutes.

"You don't mind coming here, do you?" He asked the girl with a furrowed brow. "You seem quiet."

They passed a small, rundown house with flower boxes outside the widow and a chair on the front porch. Someone was looking out the window; they withdraw as soon as the girl saw.

"It's nice here, peaceful. And you're my guardian. I couldn't have stayed, even if I wanted to." She looked out the front window for a moment, and then turned to the man, adding, almost as if it were an afterthought: "And I didn't really want to anyway."

"Well, that's good." They drove for a few more minutes, the man wincing as he didn't manage to avoid a particularly deep pothole. "Check the address would you?"

She looked down at the piece of paper on her lap, next to a map.

"Should be the next house we come across – 42 I think. Or is that a Z?" She tilted her head, trying to discern a number from the scribbles on the sheet. "This is why I do the writing – people can actually read what I write." She grinned at the man as he made to grab the sheet from her.

"You're lucky I'm driving, kid, or I'd smack you one for insulting me."

"Only if you could catch me first." She answered back cheekily.

"Might get a chance to try that out sooner than you think – this it?" The car pulled into a drive which led up to an old, slightly ramshackle looking house. The door was green, along with just about everything else in La Push.

"I think so." The girl said. They stared at the building for a moment in silence. Then the man said:

"No time like the present." He turned off the car and opened his door.

"At least it's two stories." The girl muttered, as she got out. The man, already outside, was stretching in the damp air.

"I cannot wait 'til you learn to drive. Nothing more boring than sitting in a car driving on motorways for hours on end." He paused for a moment. "Especially if you have bad company." The girl shook her head as she walked behind him.

"Had to think about that one didn't you?"

"Don't be smart kiddo, it doesn't suit you. Now, which blasted key is it...?" The man searched through the multitude of keys on the key-ring in his hand, shaking his head every so often. The girl leant back against the wall by the door, surveying their surroundings. Trees surrounded the building on three sides: left, right and the back. The road was to the front of the house; if you listened hard you could hear the sea.

"Found it. Wasn't that hard really." The girl gave her companion a disbelieving look as he held the door open for her, muttering her thanks on the way in. The house had a slightly stale, musty smell to it, which had resulted from it being closed up for a long time. The decor was simple. Light coloured walls, wooden floorboards.

"Nothing a few open windows and a bit of paint can't fix." The man said cheerfully. "I was expecting worse, weren't you?" The girl looked around slowly. It seemed that the hallway ran straight down to the kitchen at the end. There were a couple of doors leading off from it; one opening into a living room, one into a toilet, one into a study. Stairs branched off to one side of the hall, leading up to where the girl knew four bedrooms, a bathroom and another small office waited. They walked into the kitchen. It was fairly large, with a table in the middle and units around two sides of the room. A door led to the garden, another to a utility room, with a washing machine and a tumble dryer in it. The girl smiled.

"I like it. It's...homely." The man looked surprised, but pleasantly so.

"I'll get the things in. You'd better open some windows, get rid of that smell." He headed outside and the girl headed over to a window above the sink, undoing the latch and pushing it open as far as it would go. She did the same with the other windows in the kitchen, and then moved to the utility room, where there was a small, narrow window which she had to stand on a stool to reach. She'd gotten to the office when she heard voices from outside. She wandered out of the door and down the steps to the drive, where her companion was standing with a young women and a couple of young men. He turned round, saw her and smiled.

"I was about to call you. This is Emily," he said, indicating the young woman. She had three jagged scars that ran down her face, but was striking nevertheless. She had dark hair, falling past her shoulders and a carefree smile that reached her eyes.

"Hi, I'm Emily." She blushed, and then added, "Although I guess you'd gathered that. I...I mean, we just wanted to welcome you to La Push. It's not often that we get newcomers here." She shifted her weight slightly and the girl noticed she was carrying a container.

"I made you brownies. I did make chocolate muffins but these idiots ate them all before I could bring them over." Emily sent a fond smile to the men who stood slightly behind her. The girl surveyed them. They weren't as old as she had originally thought, in fact; one was more of a boy than a man. They were both tall, with coppery skin and short, dark hair. The younger one seemed to be bouncing with energy; he grinned at her when she caught his eye. Emily opened her mouth to introduce them. "This is..."

"Seth, and this grumpy git over here is Paul." His voice was deeper than it should be; from his manner she guessed he was no more than 16. Her companion chuckled.

"I'm Darren and she's Arianna." The girl sent a wave to the three strangers. "And thanks Emily; I've got a weak spot for chocolate." He grinned at her and she beamed back at him.

"That's fine – I bake loads for the boys, anytime you want anything just give me a call." She looked at the bags Darren held in one hand, then at the boys behind her. "Would you like a hand with your stuff – these two are just useless muscle." Arianna thought she heard the older one growl, but when she glanced at him he was glaring at the floor, showing no sign of having made a sound.

"That'd be good thanks. There are just a couple of bags in the boot and that's about it." Seth immediately turned to the car, whistling in admiration.

"Nice car...it'll get ruined round here though." He looked back at Darren over his shoulder. "You'd be better off with a truck." He grinned and pulled the ill-tempered man along with him. Arianna shot a look at Darren which said, _I told you so._ He huffed, and, hoisting a couple of bags over his shoulder, invited Emily inside. Arianna followed them in.

"Sorry about the mess, we've just arrived." He dumped the bags on the floor and looked sheepish. "I can't even offer you a drink, unless you like brandy?" She laughed.

"I think I'll pass thanks. We were only dropping by to say hi, and to see if you needed any help. But I think we'll get going – I reckon you have a lot to do." She chuckled. "I'll just wait for the boys to bring your things up and..." She turned as the men she'd called Seth and Paul walked through the door, carrying a bag each.

"Is that all you brought?" Seth asked, coming to a stop by Arianna.

"What can I say, we pack light." Darren grinned. "Just dump the bags over here boys, we'll sort them out later." Arianna moved out of the way of Seth, but in doing so backed into another figure.

"Sorry..." She started to say.

"Watch it." The man said harshly, as he dumped the bag and turned to glare at her. She looked at him and his eyes widened. His face paled, and then he swore and ran out of the building. All in the space of 15 seconds. Arianna turned round, looking confused.

"I didn't bump into him that hard." She said.

"It's okay." Emily said, smiling. "Paul just gets a little angry about things. He has a short temper. We'd better go after him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. It was nice meeting you both. And if you need anything, I live just down the road. The house with the flower boxes outside the windows. There's a chair on the porch." She smiled again, handed the brownies to Darren and left. Seth grinned at them.

"I reckon I'll be seeing you again soon." Then he left too.

Darren looked at Arianna. She looked back at him.

"Strange bunch of people, these village folk. Never know what they're going to do next." He said. She laughed at him, then went over and opened the container. She looked at Darren.

"Fancy a brownie?"

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><p><strong>So I hope that was okay. I know that there wasn't much detail about my OCs and it might all be a little confusing for the first chapter of two, but I didn't just want to spend the first chapter describing everyone in detail. The OCs are the only things that belong to me - it goes without saying really. <strong>

**PS :)**


	2. Windows in rooms

**So, once again, it's OCs only which belong to me. So I'm making things up here - I'm British, not American so I'm going to be writing in that style. I figured it'd make more sense, especially since my OCs are British and I'd probably just sound stupid if I started to change words so...Hope you enjoy.**

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><p>They spent the day sorting out the house. It was cold, with all the windows open, but they hadn't sorted out heating yet, so they pulled on jumpers.<p>

"I'll call the heating company up tomorrow; get this blasted heating system working. I didn't bring that many jumpers with me." Darren grumbled. Arianna smirked. Darren liked the heat; he'd have preferred to go to Florida or California or even Texas; somewhere hot. She'd always preferred the cold. She figured that it was easier to put more layers on than to take layers off. Especially if you didn't have many on to begin with.

"At least it gets rid of that God-awful smell." She said, standing with her hands on her hips and looking round the room. They hadn't done anything in the kitchen, and had just moved a couple of chairs round in the living room. "We'll need to go shopping tomorrow as well - we need food."

"I promised we'd see Billy as soon as we arrived – we could always go round his for supper." Darren got out his mobile.

"Darren!" Arianna looked aghast. "You can't just ring someone up and demand to go round theirs for dinner, it's rude." She considered the problem for a second. "Let's eat out somewhere; we can invite Billy along too." He looked at her thoughtfully.

"I knew I had a reason for keeping you around." He said, before pressing a couple of buttons on his phone and turning away. "Hi, Billy? Yeah it's Darren. Oh, I'm good thanks, how 'bout you? The drive wasn't too bad, a bit long but what do you expect..." Arianna tuned him out. They'd dealt with the ground floor, she figured she'd go and grab a room whilst Darren was busy. She took a moment to find her bag, picked it up and slung it over her shoulder. She walked out of the room and up the stairs.

When she reached the landing she grimaced slightly. They hadn't opened the upstairs windows yet and the musty smell still lingered. She made a mental note to do that after choosing her room. She opened the first door on her right and walked into a bathroom.

"Not really what I was looking for but..." She smiled at the sight of a shower but backed out of the room. The next door was a fairly small bedroom; the room next to that looked the same. There was a small office at the end of the landing. She turned around and opened a door on the left side of the corridor. She could still hear Darren talking with Billy downstairs. She walked into the room. It was larger than the other two bedrooms she'd been in, but she didn't particularly care about the size. What was important, however, were the windows. This was a good room; it had three windows, on two different walls. She liked it, but went and checked the next room anyway. That one was larger, but only had two windows. She left it for Darren.

Going back to the room she'd claimed for herself, she dumped her bag on the floor, walked to the first window, unlatched it and pushed the glass up, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air as she did so. She moved to the other two and did the same, flooding her room with the cool, clear air that smelled of sea and pine trees. She went into the other five rooms and opened their windows too.

As she stepped back onto the landing she noticed that Darren had stopped talking.

"Chosen your room?" A voice asked from behind her. She didn't jump, she'd gotten used to Darren and his attempts to creep up on anyone and everyone.

"Yep, yours is the one over there." She pointed to his room. "It's the biggest."

"But yours has the most windows." He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I like to have windows. There is nothing wrong with that." She said, slightly affronted.

"You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart." Darren chuckled as he walked to his room. Before he opened his door, he turned back.

"We're picking Billy up at 5; he says there's a pretty good diner about 10 minutes away." Darren paused for a moment. "Actually, it's the only diner in La Push, but he says it's still pretty good." He grinned and walked into his room, humming some tune.

"Guess I'll get changed then." Arianna muttered.

"That'd be good. I'd say have a shower, but we haven't got any towels." Darren called from his room.

"Use an old top if you have to." Arianna called back.

"Humph." Darren fell silent for a few minutes and Arianna made her way back into her room. She knelt on the floor and unzipped her bag. She was already wearing jeans and a long sleeved top, with a hoodie on for warmth. She pulled out a vest and a shirt, deciding they were good enough for a diner. She scampered to the bathroom before Darren could get there, locking the door once inside. She removed her hoodie and top, and then splashed her face with water, before pulling on the vest and shirt. She eyed her reflection critically for a moment, and then pulled her hair back into a low ponytail. She gathered up her clothes and unlocked the door, but she must have used too much force, because the lock came away from the door with her hand. She looked at it, bemused for a moment.

"Erh, we might have to buy a new lock when we go out shopping tomorrow Darren. This one's decided that it doesn't want to be attached to a door anymore." Darren emerged from his room and his eyes zeroed in on the lock in Arianna's hand.

"What did you do, decide that it wasn't good enough?" He laughed as he took the lock from her hand and examined it. "It wasn't that great anyway; see, it's all rusty." He chucked it backwards through his open door. "You finished in the bathroom?" She nodded and he brushed past her, a new shirt over his shoulder. The door shut and a moment later Arianna heard the sound of a tap running.

"Damn it. I'd better ring the water people tomorrow as well – the bloody water's cold." Arianna laughed as she walked back to her room. They had some furniture downstairs but it was all a bit old and a bit too...fragile. It'd do for a couple of days though, until they got some new stuff. Upstairs was a different story. All the rooms except the bathroom were empty; they'd be sleeping on the floor tonight.

Arianna checked her phone; it was 4:30. Plenty of time to start a list of what they needed. Otherwise, they'd arrive at the shop and leave without something important. Like a bed.

Darren popped his head around the door 20 minutes later; to find Arianna sprawled on the floor, sheets of paper scattered around her, a notepad in front of her, half filled with writing.

"What are you doing?" He asked, walking over and bending down to peer at what she was writing.

"Making lists – we'll forget something we need if not. I was going to get you to check them over, make sure that I haven't forgotten anything." She pulled out her phone and checked the time, then pushed herself to her feet. "Time to go?"

Darren nodded and she grabbed her coat from on top of her bag and walked out. They left the windows open; no one was going to rob them in La Push.

They went outside, Darren locking the door before following Arianna down the drive and into the car.

"Do you know the way?" She asked curiously.

"Billy gave me some rough details...and let's face it, there are only 4 or 5 roads round here. He can't live that far away."

At exactly 5 they stopped outside a small, slightly lopsided house. They'd gone the wrong way, and only a bit of speedy driving had gotten them to the house on time. The front door was open, and as they got out of the vehicle a man's voice floated through the house, telling them he'd just be a minute. Arianna leaned back against the car. The house was like a mini version of theirs, surrounded by the forest.

The sound of wheels caught her attention. She looked up to see a man in a wheelchair coming out of the house. Although he was seated, she had the impression of height – she guessed that if he could stand, this man would be tall. He had a weather-beaten, coppery face, with laughter lines around his mouth and eyes. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. His dark hair was tied back and his eyes were a warm, chocolaty brown and filled with laughter. Arianna immediately understood why this man, whom she presumed to be Billy, got on so well with Darren.

"Darren! It's good to see you my friend." The man said, holding out his hand. Darren clasped his arm and leant forward, clapping the man on his back.

"It's good to see you as well, Billy. It's been too long." Darren let go and stood back, putting his arm around Arianna's shoulders. "This is my niece, Arianna." She smiled, and stepped forward to shake Billy's hand.

"It's nice to meet you sir." She said politely. Billy grinned at her, with mischief in his eyes.

"Darren, you didn't say she was so pretty." He laughed, as did Darren, whilst Arianna blushed, but refused to look away.

"He didn't say you were so bold, sir." Billy laughed harder.

"I think we'll get on nicely, Arianna. Your name's a bit of a mouthful though. Mind if I call you something shorter? Ari, maybe?" She nodded her approval and stepped back to allow the process of getting Billy into the car to begin. It seemed that Darren knew what he was doing; Billy was seated in the passenger seat and his wheelchair was folded up in the boot before he knew it. Arianna got into the back of the car and stayed quiet, letting the old friends talk about times before she was born. As she listened she didn't notice the young man standing in the tree line, watching as the car sped away.

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><p><strong>I know everything's moving slowly at the moment and that Paul wasn't in this one til right at the end but some things might clear up in the next couple of chapters, and Paul should be in the next one. Thanks for reading.<strong>

**PS :)**


	3. Billy and Darren: Evil Masterminds

**Okay, so like I think I have already said, things are going to be a little confusing for now, but everything will make sense soon. Hopefully...**

**Only the OCs are mine.**

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><p>The dinner was small, but cheerful and brightly lit. It wasn't busy. They settled down and ordered quickly. Whilst Billy and Darren were chatting Arianna let her eyes wander around the dinner. A couple of booths were occupied, their occupants smiling, laughing, and talking. She smiled to herself when she realised that her table probably looked exactly the same. Completely normal.<p>

Except that she and Darren weren't completely normal. Not for the first time Arianna wondered why they were in La Push.

"...Arianna." She turned her head back to look at her companions, lifting an eyebrow quizzically.

"Hmm."

"Billy asked you a question." Darren sent a disapproving glance her way.

"Sorry Billy, getting a little distracted. Could you ask me again?" Billy chuckled.

"Never been to America before, have you." Arianna shook her head, smiling faintly. "You'll get used to it soon enough. Anyway, I asked whether you were going to be joining the school here."

"No, schooling is a little...complicated. We moved about a lot so I haven't really had any real schooling. I got online lessons, and genius over here was a pretty good teacher. I was going to try and get a job though. Something small, to pass the time." Billy nodded.

"I'll ask around for you."

"Thanks."

A silence fell over the table, everyone searching for something to say.

"You have favourite subject?" Arianna was thankful for the lifeline. She'd never been much of a conversationalist.

"Yeah. I like history, and languages. Biology is cool too, but I get a little confused. Oh, and I like to read."

"Languages, hey?" Billy smiled. "Not much of a surprise is it, with Darren teaching you." He chuckled.

"Yeah, but I'm not obsessed like him. I just find them interesting." Her face lit up as she talked. "It's incredible how some languages can be so similar, yet so different at the same time." She shrugged. "And we travel a lot, so it's easy to pick up bits and bobs and then, before you know it, you're fluent."

"And how many do you speak?" She paused, wondering how much to tell him. Then Darren butted in.

"Ah, here's the food. Just in time, I'm starving." He shot a piercing glance at Arianna before thanking that waitress.

They dug into their food. For Arianna and Darren it was the first proper meal they'd had in almost three days. Billy and Darren made light conversation during the meal, with Arianna chipping in every now and then.

After the meal they ordered coffees. Arianna could see that Darren wanted to ask Billy something, but was holding it in.

"I'm just going to the bathroom for a minute. I'll be back in a sec." She got up and walked away. At the toilet door she turned, just slightly, and saw Darren and Billy deep in conversation, heads close together. She frowned slightly. Darren didn't keep secrets.

By the time she'd gotten back the coffees had arrived, and Darren looked slightly uncomfortable. In his haste to squeeze in tight to the table to let Arianna pass behind him he almost pushed the table over. Arianna narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.

A few moments passed, during which Darren put 6 lumps of sugar in his coffee without realising. Billy looked at him quizzically.

"Are you okay, Darren? Because last thing I knew, you didn't take sugar with your coffee."

"He doesn't." Arianna sat back, her gaze fixed upon her uncle. Billy looked at Darren, then at Arianna, then back to Darren. Then he grinned.

"You haven't told her, have you?" It wasn't really a question.

"Haven't told her what?" Arianna raised her voice slightly at the end of the question. Darren gulped slightly, and then straightened his back resolutely, muttering to himself, "I will not be afraid of my niece. I will _not_ be afraid of my niece."

Billy grinned.

Darren looked up, straight at Arianna.

"How do you feel about adopting?"

For a long moment there was silence. Then she burst out laughing.

"Did they put something in your coffee? I'm 17, I can't adopt. And I really don't like children." She shook her head. "What is it, really?"

"I'm serious, Ari." He paused, then seeing Arianna open her mouth, started to speak again. "It's just a few kids, teenagers. 14 and 15 year olds. Three of them. Billy assures me they're good kids. They're having problems at home; bad parents, drugs, alcohol, you know. That sort of stuff." Billy nodded and said:

"They're good kids. I've know them since they were toddlers. No trouble whatsoever...most of the time."

Darren shot Billy a look before continuing.

"They need somewhere to go and, seeing as we have a couple of spare rooms, I figured, well, that we were prefect."

Arianna shook her head.

"This. Is. Madness. Darren, social services will _never_ let you adopt. You know why. We are not the right people to look after kids, no matter how bad their homes are."

"But that's where you're wrong, kiddo. We're exactly the right people to look after these kids." He paused, and Billy nodded encouragingly. "They have a couple of...anger management issues. They've been getting into trouble at school. They've refused every last placement that they've been offered, because none of them have been in La Push. The services want to get rid of them. They're making the books look bad, and are causing too much work."

"And what makes you think that they'll accept us?"

"We're their last option. And their best one. Billy will give them a push in the right direction, won't you Billy?"

"Sure I will."

Arianna sighed, shaking her head slowly.

"So you meant to stay here? For what, 4 years at least? What happens if work comes up? We can't just leave them here for a couple of weeks."

"I've already sorted it with the bosses. They'll only call one of us up at a time, unless it's an emergency. And then Billy will stay over or something. Everything is sorted. Simple. Just trust me on this one, okay? It's gonna be fine."

Arianna bit her lip, head tilted to one side slightly, brow furrowed. She tried to find any problems, but if Darren said it was fine, then it was fine. Still...

"It's the _right_ thing to do, Ari, and you know that." Darren murmured softly.

'Billy and Darren: Evil Masterminds of the 21st century' she thought.

"When do we sign the paper work?" Darren grinned, and so did Billy.

And Arianna couldn't help but think that this was not going to be as simple as Darren said. Doing the right thing never was.

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><p><strong>Hopefully the next one will be up soon. Thanks for reading!<strong>

**PS :)**


	4. Rules and Regulations

**I admit that all the social children's stuff is completely made up. I know that in real life this would never happen but the story wouldn't really work if it was based on reality. Anyway, OCs only are mine.**

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><p>It'd been three days since he last saw her. None of the others could last three days. Jared could barely last three hours. Therefore, it was impossible to even think that he had –<p>

"Paul, where are you? Honestly, we have to be there in 20 minutes and Lucas has gone missing and what are they going to think if we're late and are missing a child! They'll never let us be their guardians and oh God, the kid's will be taken away and then we'll have to steal them and everything will be so horrible and awful and PAUL, where the _hell_ are you?" Emily stormed out from the little house, guns blazing. She saw Paul lounging on the porch and headed towards him.

"Paul, I swear, if you don't find Lucas now I'll..." She trailed off, not quite sure what to threaten him with.

"Come on Em, why can't we just adopt them. You and Sam can take one, Billy can have the other and I can have the last. Bringing others into this is gonna create trouble." He complained.

"Billy trusts them, and I like them. The services won't let us adopt either. Be serious Paul. Sam and I are trying for our own child – they won't let us adopt because of that. Billy's a single man with diabetes and you can barely support yourself, let alone another. The best we can do is become their guardians. At least we'll have some responsibility." She shook her head. "Where is that boy?"

Paul got up and rolled his shoulders.

"I'll find him Em. Just get the other two ready." He paused for a moment, looking down at himself. "And do you think you could find me a shirt? I don't reckon they'll like me showing up like this." He gave her a rueful grin, and jogged off. He knew exactly where the youngest member of the Pack would be.

xXx

"Hey buddy." Paul eased himself down next to the young boy sitting on the edge of the cliff. "Big day today."

"I don't want to live with them." The boy didn't look up.

"I know. I don't want you to live with them either. But at least you can stay on the rez, and stay together. It'd be a hell of a lot of trouble if you'd all been taken out of La Push." The boy looked angry.

"Is that all we are, Paul, trouble?" His voice shook slightly. "I want to be alone." He made to get up, but a heavy hand grasping his arm stopped him.

"You know what I mean, Lucas. You're not trouble, none of you are." He sighed. "I don't like this. But we don't have many options. They might not know about us, and you might get into a bit of trouble with patrols, them not knowing about us, but it's better than where you are at the moment, kiddo. And me and Em and Sam are signing as your guardians. Any trouble, you'll all be straight back to us. For good." Lucas glanced at him through the corner of his eye.

"Promise?" Paul smiled.

"Promise." He put him arm around Lucas' shoulder and ruffled his hair. "Now come on kiddo, Em's gonna kill us if we're late."

"Nah, she loves me too much. She'll just kill you." Lucas smiled and Paul chuckled.

xXx

Darren paced around the office whilst Arianna sat on one of the chairs. A harassed looking woman sat opposite her, shuffling through files on her desk, oblivious to everything.

"Calm down Darren. Everything's fine." Darren glanced at his niece.

"They're late. 10 minutes late. What if one of the kids has run off? Refused to stay with us? What if..."

"Enough. Calm down, Darren, and sit down. They're just late." He glowered at her, but took a seat. Silence fell over the room, until Darren started tapping his foot.

_Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. _Arianna looked at her uncle. She could see his mind racing. It had been three days since the news had been sprung on her that her uncle was adopting. She didn't know how he'd managed it, considering all the paper work, but he had. The house was ready. They had water, electricity, heating, furniture, and food. All they needed were the children. Who sounded like they were finally arriving.

"Thank God." Darren leapt up from his seat, and then sat back down, not wanting to seem too eager. The lady with the files looked up as the door was flung open. In trooped 6 people.

Arianna's eyes widened. She shot a look at Darren which said, _I thought they were children?_ He grinned sheepishly.

Whatever they were, they were _not_ children. 2 boys and a girl. Both boys were pushing 6 foot, although their files said they were both 14. They all looked angry.

"Wonderful. Now that we're all here, you don't you sit down?" The young women, Emily, Arianna remembered, took a seat, with a giant of a man hovering behind her.

The others stayed standing.

"Right...Well, Lucas, Tommy, Mia, I'd like you to meet Darren, and his niece, Ari...Aria..." She stumbled on the unfamiliar name.

"Arianna." She said brightly.

"Arianna. They've kindly agreed to look after you until you reach 18, when legally we will be allowed to live by yourselves. As you know..." Arianna blanked the social worker out. Darren was listening, and some small, obscure part of her mind was taking in every word the woman said, in case it became useful later in life. She turned her attention to the teenagers standing in the middle of the room.

They had their arms crossed, frowning as they tried to make sense of what was being said. They were extraordinarily good looking, although too tall and muscular for their ages. Even the girl had light muscles, and she was taller than Arianna, although 2 years younger.

That was embarrassing.

Their hair was short, but inky black. The type of colour that was impossible to find in a packet, but that everyone wanted. Their skin was copper, with dark, almond shaped eyes. They looked old before their time.

Arianna shook her head slightly. That was not good.

Neither was the anger that they were evidently holding in.

"So, if you'd like to sign here, then we'll get the guardians to sign after that." Arianna looked to the desk, where Darren was signing pieces of paper. The couple, Emily and her partner perhaps, signed the paper next. The social worker looked to Arianna, who got up and walked to the desk, signing the dotted line without reading the texts. Another person, a man, went to sign the documents but Arianna didn't catch his face. She stood next to Darren, assessing their charges.

"Well, that's everything accounted for. You be good now, children, and I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again very soon. Mr Woodhouse, if you could stay behind for a moment?" Arianna glanced at him, and he nodded. The others were already making their way out of the door, so Arianna followed at a safe distance. They looked strong and angry, and Arianna didn't want to get squashed.

"Seeing us soon," one of the boys muttered, "who does she think she is? I'm not seeing her again. Last time I go into that stupid office." The other boys chuckled, but it was strained. The girl didn't say a word.

Arianna wasn't quite sure what to do, so she walked over to Darren's recently purchased truck. She liked it. It was blue and a little rusty around the edges and the radio volume had to be turned up high because the engine was so loud, but it was comforting and Arianna liked comforting. She leant against the bonnet, and looked at the sky. It was overcast, naturally. It was an awkward situation, but Darren had started it, so she'd let him come out and resolve it.

She squinted at the clouds. It might rain later.

Darren strode outside, clutching a bunch of papers in his right hand. He was whistling softly, but stopped when he was met with silence. 6 pairs of eyes rose to meet his, Arianna was still looking at the sky.

"Right then..." He tapped the rolled up papers against his leg, a sign of slight nervousness. Arianna noticed this.

"So, I'm Darren and -"

"We know that." One of the boys snapped.

"Well, you're going to be staying with me and -"

"We know that, too." The other boy said.

"Great, so we got the idiot." The girl muttered. Arianna looked down from the sky. Darren looked uncomfortable, as did Emily and her partner. The other man was glaring at the floor. He seemed familiar but Arianna didn't chase that thought. She had bigger fish to fry.

She looked at Darren and nodded.

"So, if you're going to be staying with us there are a few rules that you have to follow. Number 1: no drinking alcohol...unless you're sharing with us. Number 2: no drugs, unless you're sharing those as well. Number 3: if you're bringing somebody over, then lock your door and turn the radio on. I don't want to hear that sort of stuff and neither does Darren. And no, we don't want to share that." She paused, winked at Darren, and continued.

"Number 4: If you're going out, just tell us. We don't care where you go or what you do. We'll just leave the chain off the door so you don't have to wake us up at three in the morning to get in. And finally. Number 5: don't go into our study. You can do whatever you want but don't go in there."

"Why, have you got dead bodies in there?" The girl asked snappily.

"Sometimes." Arianna grinned at them, stuck her hands in her pockets and looked at Darren. He got the signal.

"We're doing this..." he trailed off as Arianna shot him a look. "I'm doing this because I owe Billy a favour. So, no games. I want this to work out for everyone. So, I guess we'd better go back to ours. Um..."

"We'll follow you. Mia will drive with us, and the boys will be in with Paul. Their stuff is in the back of the trucks." Darren beamed at Emily, and she returned the smile. The teenagers huffed and walked to the respective rides, the adults following them. But not before the moody guy shot Arianna a look.

She turned around.

She could swear that she recognised him.

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><p><strong>So, hope you enjoyed. I'll try and get the next one up as soon as possible but I'm pretty busy at the moment.<strong>

**PS :)**


	5. Meet Mutt

**Another chapter, finally! Only OCs are mine.**

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><p>The short journey to the house was quiet, until Arianna turned on the radio. Darren shook his head and turned down the volume a notch. Arianna smiled and turned it up again.<p>

"Don't worry about them. They've had a rough time, give them a bit of space and they'll come round to the idea of living with us." Arianna stated calmly, more interested in the view than her companion.

"What if they don't? What if this just makes everything worse? Oh God, what if I've ruined their lives? It's..."

"Nonsense." Arianna cut through Darren's babbling. "They just don't know us. We'll change that. And they're teenagers; they're bound to be moody."

"You weren't."

"I'm an exception." She sent him a grin. "Plus I couldn't really be moody, I was surrounded by idiots. It was all I could do not to constantly laugh at everyone. You included."

"Hey!" Darren looked affronted. "I resent that."

"It's true though." She paused, looking thoughtfully out of the window. "Although I suppose I had my moments too."

"Hell yes, do you remember the time when -"

"I don't think we want to go there now, do you?" She looked in relief as Darren parked the truck in their drive. "I've never been happier to see the house."

"You've been here three days, why would you be happy to see it?" He smirked at her before turning off the engine and getting out. She could hear him unlocking the door as she lent her head back against the seat.

The kids were trouble. And she knew it. But damn if she was going to let them get away with insulting Darren. He was too good for that.

"Tired sweetie?" A familiar voice asked her.

"Hmm?" She opened her eyes to see Emily peering at her through the open truck window. "Nah, I'm good thanks." She undid her seat belt and opened the truck door, after winding up the window. "You know," she remarked conversationally to Emily, "it's been ages since I had to wind up a window. I've almost forgotten how to!" Emily laughed gently.

"Snob." The girl muttered. Arianna took no notice, she did see Emily's partner glaring at the girl. Luckily Darren appeared in the doorway, motioning for them to bring in the girl's bag. Arianna watched her closely as they walked up to the house. The girl was clutching the bag close to her chest, as though someone would rip it away from her. Arianna's brow furrowed at the thought.

As they reached the door the last truck pulled up and the two boys jumped out of the back. Arianna frowned again. They should definitely not be that tall. She shook her head.

"Ari, where's the dog?" Darren popped his head round the door. "I don't want him barking at everyone."

"How should I know? I've been with you!" She said, mildly amused.

"I swear girl, if you don't find that mutt I'll..."

"Skin me alive? Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one before." She winked at him before stating, "And that mutt has a name remember." He glared at her.

"Just. Find. Him." Arianna turned round, smiling and started off across the grass leading to the woods.

"Wait." It was Emily, sounding slightly panicked. "You can't go in the woods. There are dangerous animals in there. Bears and..."

"Wolves? I know, I can hear them at night." Arianna grinned at Emily. "Good, isn't it?"

"But -" Emily stepped forward.

"I can look after myself Emily." Arianna shrugged. "And Mutt's in there. I'm perfectly safe." And with that she turned and strolled into the dim forest.

She walked for a few minutes, following a path that she and Darren had trodden into place over the few days that they had been in La Push.

"Mutt." She called. "Here, boy." A slight sound to her left. She turned her body slightly, whistling. A twig cracked, and then another, then a huge shape shot out from the bushes, slamming into Arianna, who fell to the floor.

"Jesus boy. What's wrong with you, huh? Excited to see me?" The shape was a big, heavy dog that was actually licking Arianna's face with great enthusiasm. "Bloody hell boy, you're mad." She shifted underneath him, pushing him off her with no small amount of difficulty.

"C'mon boy, we've got visitors you've gotta meet." She patted her pockets, then her neck. "Damn, I forgot your lead again. Stay with me boy." She didn't take hold of his collar but he stayed by her side all the same as they started walking out of the forest.

Arianna eyed him critically. He was a big dog, around 50kg, mainly black with some brown patches on his lower legs and chest. A good Beauceron, 3 years old and mostly obedient. She didn't see why Darren was worried but then again, his teeth were quite long and they were quite sharp and his claws were...

Yeah, she understood Darren's point.

They emerged from the woods and she grabbed hold of the dog's collar to stop him from running to 'greet' the visitors. He'd jump on them if he could. He liked jumping on people.

"C'mon Mutt, be a good boy for me now, hey? Then we can go for a run later." She murmured as the neared the house. They traipsed up the steps to the door, which was wide open. It was fairly quiet in the house; Arianna could hear Darren and Emily making slightly awkward conversation. Lovely.

"We're in the living room, Ari." She shook her head again; apparently she couldn't sneak up the drive now.

"Yeah, okay. We're coming." She walked down the hall a few metres to a door on her left, and paused, momentarily, at the doorway. Mutt had stiffened by her side, his ears pricked up, sniffing the air. She pulled his collar lightly, murmuring to him.

"C'mon boy, lets meet and great, hmm?"

She walked into the room with Mutt reluctantly padding alongside her. Darren was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room, next to the fire and a coffee table. On the other side of the table was a two-seater upon which Emily and her presumed partner were sitting on. Next to them was another sofa, this one larger, filling an entire wall and curving round the corner to end up next to the other sofa. The children were all lounging on it, Arianna noted, whilst getting slight disapproving looks from Darren, which they were blatantly ignoring. Opposite Emily was a t.v fixed to the wall. Opposite Darren, on the other side of the fire, was another chair, in which the grumpy-man-who-was-familiar was sitting. No seat for Arianna. Naturally.

She would have said something but at that moment Mutt chose to growl, rather loudly, at the grumpy man. Arianna blinked in surprise, but once again, had no time to say anything because she immediately put all her strength into holding Mutt back from jumping onto the man. Although, Arianna secretly suspected that it wasn't a nice, I-want-to-be-your-friend-and-lick-your-face kind of jump, but more of an I-want-to-bite-your-head-off kind of jump.

"Ari -" Darren started.

"MUTT." Arianna said firmly, accompanied by a sharp tug of his collar. "Sit. Now." She glared at him and although he looked decidedly unhappy he obeyed. Mostly. Instead of sitting next to her, he sat on her feet.

She sighed. "I guess that will do." She looked up. Emily had shrunk back into the arms of the man next to her, who was glaring at Mutt. The kids were also looking at her dog, but more calculating, as though wondering whether they could get away with something. Darren raised an eyebrow when she glanced at him, indicating that they would be talking about this later.

She didn't even bother to glance at the grumpy man. If Mutt didn't like him he wasn't worth her time.

She didn't notice him frown at this.

"Right. I suppose some introductions are in order since you weren't here earlier. Ari, this is Sam, Emily's fiancé." The man next to Emily on the sofa nodded at Arianna. "And the kids, in case you've forgotten, are Mia, Tommy and Lucas." Arianna gave them another glance over. They looked like trouble and were glaring at her. Darren didn't mention the man in the corner. A part of Arianna's mind wondered why.

"Right everyone, meet Mutt." Arianna paused. "I'm sure he's very pleased to meet you all."

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><p><strong>So, still not much PaulAri contact but I'm sure there'll be more in the next chapter. Thanks for reading.**

**PS :)**


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